Agribusiness

Agriculture is an area in which innovation has always been essential, to allow the continued ability to feed, clothe and protect a growing world population. Significant advances are being made across a variety of specialised technology fields, from agrichemicals and plant/animal biotechnology, to advanced mechanisation and automation of farming and related operations, to ‘digital agriculture’.

Our attorneys are specialised in all of the relevant technology areas, allowing us to take a tailored, multi-disciplinary team approach to providing solutions for our clients.

Sustainable production remains a key research theme, often involving the improvement of naturally occurring product, for example by genetic modification and/or selection, or the improved production of naturally occurring product, for example with selective herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers and feed.

In many instances, the commercialised technology arises from a convergence of biotechnology and chemical sciences. Further, some products and services are often commercialised so as to facilitate the sale of other products or services into the market, a case in point being the commercialisation of new plants or animals having agrochemical resistance to facilitate the sale of the agrochemical itself.

In Australia, plants and animals can generally be protected per se, as can various uses of them and methods of treating them. There is also no difficulty in protecting agrochemicals, and importantly in this particular sector, it is typically possible to protect combination products of agrochemicals. As a country where agriculture remains one of the most important industries, this means that multinational companies develop extensive patent portfolios.  And we have the expertise to not only manage and defend these portfolios, but to ensure that each application works with the others to create a single, commercial picture.

Our focus is on providing a team based approach to the solution of our agricultural client’s problems. This is particularly valuable where the relevant commercialisation arises from a convergence of biotechnology and chemical sciences, and in these circumstances we tailor our client solution by hand picking attorneys for a given matter who have the relevant technical expertise.

Under the umbrella of AgTech, modern computer technology allows interconnection of physical devices for collection and sharing of data in agricultural operations, with cloud computing providing hitherto unimaginable enhancements in data storage, access and scalability, leading to huge opportunities for seamless integration into centralised decision making, business and financial software (“Ag Fintech”). Robotics allow controlled or automated performance of discreet operations formerly carried out by humans, such as automated robotic harvesters, while autonomous systems can function without specific instructions, deriving direction from analysis of data inputs (for example, cultivators, sprayers, driverless tractors and harvesters).

All of this provides incredibly exciting opportunities for innovative players to secure meaningful IP protection, but equally raises potential risks for businesses operating in these sectors who may find themselves facing unexpected restrictions on their freedom to operate.